Born in Co Monaghan on 3 December 1892 and educated at St Vincent's College, Castleknock, he received his medical training at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, the London Hospital, and St Bartholomew's, and graduated MB with honours from University College, Dublin in 1917. He spent the next two years in the Royal Flying Corps Medical Service, with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, and in 1919 he was surgeon to the "Z" Royal Air Force expedition in Somaliland. He became resident surgeon to the North Middlesex Hospital in 1921, and was first surgical assistant and registrar to the London Hospital from 1925 to 1930. He was on the staff of the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers, Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, Beckenham Hospital, and St Anthony's Hospital, Cheam, but worked chiefly at the Gordon Hospital and the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth. He was a past president of the Section of Proctology of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a member of Council of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. The National University of Ireland awarded him an honorary MD degree in 1958 and he was appointed a Knight in the Papal Order of St Gregory. Michael Smyth loved racing and racehorses, and became consulting surgeon to the Jockey Club and National Hunt; he was also a splendid golfer. His humour and anecdotes made many meetings less dull. He practised at 82 Harley Street and died on 15 September 1964 in the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, survived by his wife Esther Mary, daughter of Hugh Kennedy, and their three sons and two daughters.